Nvidia’s lunchbox-sized Drive PX2 supercomputer has the processing power of 150 MacBook Pros

The first keynote of CES 2016 came from Nvidia’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, who unveiled the firm’s new ‘supercomputer’ designed for self-driving cars.

The new computer is called the Drive PX2 and it has the power of 150 MacBook Pros, with 12 CPU cores that support a combined eight teraflops worth of processing power – equivalent to six Titan X video cards.

The Drive PX2 is water-cooled and can achieve 24 trillion operations a second.

During the keynote, Huang said the Drive PX1 is the first supercomputer made for cars. Volvo is the first partner to use the Drive PX2 and will build it into some prototype self-driving cars.

As well as the Drive PX2, Nvidia also unveiled a VR-ready program. The firm has partnered with PC and notebook makers and add-in card providers to deliver GeForce GTX VR-ready systems and graphics cards.

Nvidia says the program minimises confusion regarding which equipment is necessary to play the range of VR games and applications increasingly coming to market.

Delivering a VR experience demands seven times the graphics processing power of traditional 3D games and applications – driving framerates above 90 frames per second (fps) for two simultaneous images (one for each eye).

“For customers, navigating an emerging technology like VR can be daunting,” said Jason Paul, general manager of emerging technologies at NVIDIA.

“We’re working with trusted partners worldwide to simplify the buying process with a GeForce GTX VR Ready badge that will let customers quickly identify PCs or add-in cards that are capable of handling the demands of VR.”

Alienware, MAINGEAR and MSI are among the PC vendors participating in the GeForce GTX VR Ready program.

“As trailblazers in gaming and graphics, Alienware and NVIDIA are committed to providing great turnkey VR experiences. The program will guide customers to the products that will delight them. Maxwell-based GPUs are a great match for VR experiences, and cards like the GeForce GTX 970 help Alienware PCs set the industry standard,” said Frank Azor, general manager at Alienware.